It was a Friday afternoon in Concord. November 17, 2023. Most people were winding down for the weekend, but at the New Hampshire Hospital, the atmosphere turned into a nightmare in seconds. This wasn't a "country club shooting" in the way people usually think of fairways and polo shirts, but the confusion persists because of the facility's location on the sprawling, historic grounds of what was once the local country club area near Clinton Street.
A man walked into the lobby. He had a gun. Before the staff could even process the threat, he opened fire.
The victim was Alan Rumrill. He was 63. He wasn't just a security guard; he was a former Department of Corrections officer who had spent his life in public service. He died doing his job. He was standing in the lobby, the very first line of defense for a psychiatric facility that houses some of the state's most vulnerable residents.
The Confusion Surrounding the Country Club Shooting New Hampshire Label
Social media is a weird place. During the breaking news cycle, "country club shooting New Hampshire" started trending because the New Hampshire Hospital sits on the edges of the old state lands that locals historically associated with the nearby golf courses and the affluent greenery of the capital's outskirts. People were Googling frantically. Was it a high-end resort? A private club?
No. It was a state-run psychiatric hospital.
The shooter was identified as John Madore, a 33-year-old man who was reportedly unhoused at the time. He didn't have a long, storied connection to the hospital that day, but he had stayed there before. That’s a detail that often gets glossed over in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy. The "why" is always messy. Madore was killed almost instantly by a state trooper who was assigned to the hospital.
Think about that timing.
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If that trooper hadn't been standing right there, in that specific hallway, at that exact minute, the death toll wouldn't have stopped at one. The efficiency of the response was incredible, honestly. Within minutes, tactical teams were swarming the grounds, and the entire city of Concord was on edge.
Breakdown of the Incident and Law Enforcement Response
The New Hampshire State Police didn't mess around. Colonel Mark Hall was the one who had to stand in front of the cameras later that night. He looked exhausted. He confirmed that the shooter had entered the lobby around 3:38 PM.
By 3:45 PM, the shooter was dead.
It was that fast.
We often talk about "active shooter drills" as these abstract things we do in schools and offices. But at the New Hampshire Hospital, the drill became reality. Staff moved patients into secure rooms. They locked down the wards. Because this is a psychiatric facility, the logistics of a lockdown are ten times more complicated than a standard office building. You have patients who might be in the middle of a crisis, patients who can't be easily moved, and staff who are trained in de-escalation, not combat.
The Vehicle in the Parking Lot
There was this whole side-story about a U-Haul truck. Remember that?
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Police found a U-Haul in the parking lot near the entrance. They treated it like it was rigged with explosives. The bomb squad was brought in. They used robots. They spent hours combing through it while the rest of the facility was still reeling from the gunfire. It turned out the shooter had been living out of it, or at least using it to transport his life. Inside, they found more ammunition and a tactical vest. It was clear this wasn't a spontaneous "snap." It was a planned assault.
Why Alan Rumrill Matters
When we talk about the country club shooting New Hampshire incident, we have to talk about Rumrill. He wasn't armed. Think about that for a second. He was a security guard in a lobby of a psychiatric hospital, and his primary tool was a radio and his own presence. He was a father. A grandfather. He had retired from the DOC and took this job because he wanted to keep busy, to keep helping.
The community response was massive. People left flowers at the gate for weeks. It sparked a massive debate in the State House about whether security guards at state facilities should be armed.
Security Gaps and the Political Aftermath
New Hampshire is a "live free or die" state. Gun laws are a lightning rod here. After the shooting, Governor Chris Sununu was under a microscope. How did a man with a history of mental health struggles and previous interactions with the law get a weapon?
- The Legal Loophole: Madore had previous charges, but they had been dismissed because he was found incompetent to stand trial.
- The "Red Flag" Debate: New Hampshire doesn't have a formal red flag law that allows family or police to temporarily seize firearms from someone in crisis.
- Facility Security: The hospital lobby was "soft." It was designed to be welcoming, not a fortress.
Basically, the system failed before the first shot was fired. Madore had been in and out of the system. He was a ghost in the machinery of state social services. He had lived in various towns across the state, from Londonderry to Concord, often staying in hotels or his vehicle.
Impact on the Concord Community
Concord isn't a big city. It’s a tight-knit community where everyone knows someone who works at "the hill" (the local nickname for the hospital complex). For days, the sound of sirens was replaced by a heavy, eerie silence.
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The mental health toll on the employees was—and is—immense. Imagine going back to work on Monday in the same lobby where your colleague was murdered. The state brought in crisis counselors, but you can't just "counsel" away the trauma of an active shooter. The hospital had to undergo a massive security overhaul. Bulletproof glass was installed. Metal detectors became the new normal. The "open" feeling of the facility disappeared forever.
Honestly, it changed how New Hampshire views its public buildings. You can't just walk into the State House or the Department of Health and Human Services without feeling the shift in security posture.
Lessons Learned and Actionable Insights
If you are looking at this from a security or policy perspective, there are a few hard truths to swallow. The country club shooting New Hampshire event wasn't an isolated fluke; it was a symptom of broader issues in mental health care and facility safety.
What should be done moving forward?
- Audit Entry Points: If you manage a public-facing facility, the lobby is your weakest link. The "welcoming" aesthetic has to be balanced with physical barriers that can slow down an intruder.
- Integrated Law Enforcement: Having a State Trooper on-site saved lives. Facilities with high-risk populations need more than just "unarmed security" if they are going to protect their staff effectively.
- Mental Health Records and Background Checks: There is a massive gap in how "incompetency" is reported to NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System). If a person is too mentally ill to stand trial, that should be an automatic flag for firearm purchases, yet the paperwork often falls through the cracks.
- Trauma-Informed Recovery: Recovery for an organization takes years, not months. The hospital had to implement long-term peer support groups for the nurses and doctors who witnessed the event.
The 2023 shooting remains a dark chapter for Concord. It serves as a reminder that even in the safest states, the intersection of mental health crises and easy access to firearms can lead to a tragedy in a matter of seconds.
To honor Alan Rumrill, the state eventually moved toward more robust protections for those who guard our public spaces. It's a small solace for a family that lost a patriarch, but it's the reality of how policy is written—often in the wake of blood.
Next Steps for Understanding State Security:
- Review the New Hampshire Department of Safety's updated protocols for state office buildings.
- Research the status of House Bill 1711, which aimed to address the reporting of mental health records to the background check system.
- Look into the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) New Hampshire resources for those affected by workplace violence.